Erased by Time
by darkfire717
Summary: When Tohru moves into a mansion with her fiancé Yuki, the house is having some kind of sinister effect on her mind! Can Tohru set things right before it's too late? YUKIRU, COMPLETE
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
The bus doors slid open, admitting a swarm of people into the storm. Umbrellas bloomed like violets under the rain as the people rushed past each other, hurrying towards another bus. The brown-haired woman scurried off the bus and opened her own umbrella, which was bright white against the sea of dark. She sat down on the sheltered bus stop, listening to nothing in particular.  
  
Yuki wrapped his silver trenchcoat tighter around him as he sat down next to the woman. Bus eight would be arriving soon. He didn't want to be late for work...  
  
"Yun-chan?"  
  
"Eh?" Yuki turned his head to meet the mahogany-colored eyes of the woman, that woman who looked so familiar somehow. She was staring at him in unflattering disbelief. How did she know his name, anyway?  
  
"Y... Yun-chan," she stammered. "It's... you."  
  
"Eh?" Yuki repeated. What? Did he steal something from her, or something? No, nothing like that...  
  
"Yun-chan, I found you," the woman mumbled, her head hung low with the weight of her sorrow. Her shoulders shook as she worked subconsciously to distract herself by playing with her braid.  
  
"Um... excuse me, have we met?" Yuki's brow furrowed itself in confusion.  
  
The woman threw her head up towards him, desperation burning in her large, innocent-looking eyes. "Yun-chan!" she exclaimed. "Yuki Sohma! How can... you not remember me?! Please!"  
  
Yuki didn't say anything, for lack of understanding. The woman gasped for breath, departing into the wind and rain outside the bus stop. It was impossible to tell if she was crying; her face was already drenched with rainwater.  
  
Yuki picked up the white umbrella the woman had left behind, failing to notice that bus eight had came and went. There was an unfamiliar name on the inside.  
  
There was an onigiri embroidered on the front.  
  
Author's Note: Hi, peoples. It's me again, hoping to gain some recognition with my new fic, "Erased by Time." As you can see, Yuki doesn't remember who this person is. And who, you might ask, is this person? Well, take a guess. By the way, if alexandra-kyoko is reading this, I just want to say that YOU ARE AWESOME! 


	2. Picture

Chapter 1  
  
Yuki rolled down his shaded window as his car approached Kagura. She was standing, as usual, outside the café she worked at, sheltering herself with her blue denim bag, which she never went anywhere without ever since Kyo had left.  
  
"Hey, Kagura-chan," Yuki yelled, and Kagura's whole aspect changed; rather than sulky, she suddenly seemed happy. She ran across the parking lot toward his chrome Lamborghini, opening the door and settling in next to him. Her hair was still rather wet from the rain.  
  
"Hi Yun-chan," she gasped. "Thanks for coming to get me. Imagining having to walk home in this weather."  
  
"Mm," Yuki dismissed. "Hard day?"  
  
"Yeah," Kagura breathed, snuggling herself against Yuki's arm. Her breath ran along the crook of his neck. "What about you?"  
  
"Ahh, I missed the bus, got there late, and got yelled at."  
  
"Oh, that must've hurt," whispered Kagura, wrapping her arm around Yuki.  
  
"Mm," Yuki said again. "Um, Kagura-chan," he suddenly spouted, "do you know anyone named Tohru Honda?"  
  
"Huh?" Kagura replied. "Yeah, she's my co-worker. Why?"  
  
"She left her umbrella at the bus stop," Yuki replied, holding up the white umbrella as proof.  
  
"Oh," Kagura laughed. "For a second I thought you might have been cheating on me."  
  
Yuki let a small chuckle escape his lips. "No way, Kagura-chan."  
  
(8::8)  
  
Four pictures stood on Kagura's windowsill, four silver-framed photographs of the ones she loved. The most prominent picture showed Yuki and Kagura standing together. The second largest showed Kagura's mother, and the third her sister. However, the fourth picture, tiny and in the back, was Kyo.  
  
Ever since he had graduated from high school, Kyo Sohma, the cat, hadn't been seen by any of the Sohma family, or anyone else who knew who he was. He had avoided being kept in a prison, yes; but he had only succeeded in making himself even more exiled from the family. Three years later, he was declared legally dead.  
  
Kagura had almost killed herself, if it wasn't for Yuki, who had come to her and gave her another chance; Yuki. Kagura had moved on, past Kyo.  
  
And yet despite her new love, Kagura had still to find trust in Yuki; they had been going out for two years, and he didn't seem to want to make any further moves in the relationship. And somehow, she always found herself doubting him, thinking he was cheating on her. She was always worried he didn't love her in return.  
  
'So maybe we shouldn't get married.'  
  
Kagura's diary lay open on her queen sized bed. She stared, horrified, at what she had just written. Those six words, written plainly in blue ink, were pure treason. With tears stinging her eyes like the water coming down on Yuki from inside his shower, Kagura scribbled out the words. But I love Yun-chan, she wrote next to it.  
  
( 8: :8 )  
  
Kagura sat herself down at the fancy table, the kind made of mahogany, with no paper napkins, no sporks, and no sticky countertops. A fancy restaurant. Yuki had taken her to a fancy restaurant. 'How lovely of him...' Kagura mused. 'A raise at work, and he used it on me...'  
  
"Have you decided yet, Kagura-chan?" Yuki asked, looking up over his menu.  
  
"Umm, yeah, I'm going with this thing," she laughed, snapping back to reality and pointing at some sort of pasta platter. "What about you?"  
  
"Hmm, that looks nice," Yuki murmured. "I think I'll go with that too."  
  
"Um, okay," Kagura murmured, blushing as a waitress came bustling over.  
  
"May I start you out with something to drink?"  
  
Kagura and Yuki looked up simultaneously, but with quite different reactions. Yuki looked quite shocked. Kagura, however, smiled. "Hi, Tohru- san. I didn't know you worked here."  
  
"Oh..." Tohru mumbled, looking towards the ground. "I'm not really in a good financial situation, so I work two jobs. Um, is this a date?"  
  
"Mm-hmm!" chirped Kagura.  
  
"Sorry!" Tohru cried, embarrassed. "Um, what'll that be for a drink?"  
  
"Um," Yuki offered, "How about red wine."  
  
'Ohhh, how cute,' thought Kagura. 'He knows that's my favorite...'  
  
"Okay," said Tohru, bowing before turning and scooting away.  
  
"Um, wait," Yuki called. "Honda-san?"  
  
"Eh?" The waitress turned around, blushing.  
  
"You left you're umbrella at the bus stop, and..."  
  
"You can keep it," Tohru dismissed, hurrying away.  
  
( 8: :8 )  
  
"That waitress was a bit... odd," Kagura dismissed as she and Yuki opened the doors of the car, climbing out offhandedly. "What did she mean by, 'You can keep it?'"  
  
"I guess... she just didn't want it." Yuki shrugged. But we don't need to concentrate on that. Did you enjoy the restaurant?"  
  
"Yeah," Kagura murmured softly, taking his hand. "It was great."  
  
They kissed softly under the porch light before heading into the apartment.  
  
( 8: :8 )  
  
Tohru stared at the little faded mirror, her face damp with tears. The symbols on the rim rotated slowly, spelling out a word. Tohru's tears became a steady downpour as she realized what she was to do.  
  
The fog in the mirror swirled as a picture of Kyoko Honda materialized on the surface. Tohru sobbed into her hands, dropping the large knife she had been holding onto the floor.  
  
Author's Note: AAAGH! I am SO sorry about this alexandra-kyoko! It WILL be a Yukiru! I promise! You rock! Yaay for alexandra-kyoko! See, she's trying to do all this stuff, but... OH! It's a surprise! Sorry! Can't tell ya! 


	3. White Houses

Well... Sorry about the long god freaking damn wait, but I'M BAAAAACK! Muhahahahaahahahahahhaha...

Um, I hope nobody reading this hates Vanessa Carlton!!!

* * *

Tohru's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed. It looked like there was a white sheet draped over the skylight due to the cloud covering.

A socked foot pressed gently on the ground as Tohru stepped out of her bed and walked around the room. There were windows on every side of her, and through them Tohru could see her twelve-acre yard. It was all dead. All of it. That's just it. She couldn't mow it, and she couldn't afford for someone to do it for her, and she couldn't sell the house, because Yuki had bought it with her, and it was half-his. But, unfortunately, Yuki didn't seem to remember that little detail.

A few moments later, Tohru noticed the window zoom open and slam shut on its own as she was getting dressed. She didn't even flinch. She was used to it- just as she was used to the thirteen or so other specters who lived in her house.

About a dozen doors all slammed shut as Tohru opened her own and headed into the hallway. The halls echoed as she walked slowly down towards the marble staircases, her heels making much more noise than they were supposed to. She avoided the elevator and grasped the mahogany banister. She never... _ever_- would consider going in there. She knew that the elevator only went to the attic.

The white tile floor shone from the light of the windows stretching overhead from wall to wall as Tohru stepped into the living room to fix a breakfast, pausing by a small oak table to admire the bonsai trees growing there. She smiled almost proudly; she loved those trees she never grew.

"Crashed on the floor..."

Tohru tilted her head to the side as the song came on the radio. She knew that song...

"...spinning empty bottles, it's the five of us..."

"With pretty eyed boys girls'd die to trust..." Tohru sang quietly, dueting with the girl on the radio. It was some American girl whose name she couldn't remember.

Tohru almost laughed to herself as she began wiping down a table while singing louder. The coffeehouse was barren. She was alone on that rainy day.

"But I hold on to secrets..."

She did a mock dance move across the maple floor.

"In white houses-"

"Wow!" said a voice from the door. Tohru stopped singing and dancing immediately, blushing bright red. She turned to face Kagura, who was clapping enthusiastically.

"You're pretty good at that," said Kagura modestly, nodding as if in approval. "Ever consider going into music as a career?"

"N-nooo!" Tohru exclaimed, waving her hands in the air. "I just need to-"

"Come on, I'm serious!"

"Um, n-no... I really don't think that's the best idea for me," Tohru stammered. "Thank's for your concern, though, Sohma-san..."

Kagura scoffed. "Call me Kagura-chan!" she shouted, smiling broadly. "Now that we're such good friends."

Tohru faltered. Somehow, that phrase of words seemed oddly familiar.

"So, why Vanessa Carlton?"

Tohru snapped back to reality. "Eh?"

"You were singing to Vanessa Carlton," Kagura reiterated as if she were talking to a Kindergartener.

"Oh yeah," Tohru said, embarrassed, as she scratched the back of her head. "Uh, I dunno... I just heard it on the radio a couple times and... I..."

There it was again. That gray car was driving out of the parking lot. Tohru could see Yuki's silhouette.

"Tohru-chan, are you okay? You look kind of pale..."

Tohru rushed over and clamped her hand on Kagura's shoulder as she felt the curse sweep over her again. "Kagura," she whispered frantically, "You have to help me..."

* * *

Well... I updated. That should keep you happy for a few minutes. 


	4. Butterflies

I'm back again. Boy, I'm on a spree here. By the way, the reason I was gone so long is because I was working on my web page. Hahahaha.

* * *

Kagura backed away silently as Tohru whispered the last word into her ear. A look of horror adorned her features. Tohru could see what Kagura was thinking.

The radio faded into static as Kagura whispered, "You're crazy."

"No, no, you have to believe me-" Tohru tasted blood as her face suddenly hit the floor. Kagura's foot had sailed into her back.

"Get out of here," warned Kagura in a shaky voice. "I mean it."

"No, please, Kagura-chan..."

Her head struck the wood again. Tohru staggered out the door, doing her best to hide the tears.

__

_I__ have to get away. I need to get away from here._

The sidewalks swayed back and forth, people blurring in and out of focus. The sky was turning a sickly greenish color.

_I'm going crazy._

The sidewalk rushed up to met her again, and she heard someone say, "Watch it!". Tohru couldn't summon herself to say anything back.

Tohru's shoulders arched when she saw the house. That huge mansion. She felt something wet on her face as she moaned in pain.

_I need to get..._

The train station.

_Away..._

__

Tohru woke up feeling somewhat refreshed. The soft bench of the train rested beneath her head. But there was still blood in her hair.

"A-ah..."

Her voice was barely a squeak. No one could hear her.

The doors opened, and someone with long black hair swept by the window of her seat.

"H- Han- na... chan!"

Tohru dragged herself out the door and through crowds, futilely trying to keep up with the dark-haired girl. She lost her balance and fell again, dragging herself up and going faster.

"Han-na... chan!!"

Her knees gave out and she yelped quietly. Saki quietly disappeared into a shop next to the train station. Tohru almost smiled.

The doorknob was gold, with some sort of animal face carved into it. The door creaked open to reveal not Saki, but someone just as familiar.

"M-Megumi... kun."

"Tohru-san?!"

She could see genuine shock in Megumi's eyes. A definite first for a Hanajima.

The floor was tiled. Blue tiles... that was the last thing Tohru remembered before everything went black.

Tohru awoke when she felt a cool damp cloth on her face. Megumi was trying to wipe of the blood.

"Hah..." Tohru raised herself up and noticed she was on a green couch, inside a different room; same blue tiles, but the walls were covered in butterflies- dead butterflies. Saki stood in a corner with a tray of tea, rushing over when she saw Tohru was awake.

"Tohru-kun," Saki murmured as she placed a cup into Tohru's hands. "What happened?"

"Saki-chan," Tohru mused, her head spinning. "Hello, Saki chan, I hope you... have been well. And you're so much... taller, Megumi... kun..."

"Tohru-kun," Saki pressed more urgently. "Why are you here?"

"I followed... you." The room began to slow its spinning as Tohru took a sip from the cup.

"But..." Saki mumbled, "You're..."

"Dead," finished Megumi.

"Dead? Ha ha... ha." Tohru tried to feign laughter and accidentally spilled some tea on her shirt.

"Tohru-kun, you don't know... do you?" Saki turned her head.

"What?" said Tohru.

"You died in a car accident during your last year of grade school."

A car accident? This had to be crazy. That didn't make any sense at all!

She had met Yuki in her first year of high school.

She never _met_ anyone, so of course nobody remembered her! She had known Saki since fifth grade, but Yuki and Kagura and everyone else... they had been after.

So why did _she_ remember everyone?

"Hana-chan," she whispered, "What's happening?"

"I don't know," said Saki quietly. Moments of silence passed.

"What's happening?" she said again, tears streaming down her face. She set the tea down on the floor.

"I think that only _you_ know that," Megumi broke in sagely. Saki turned her head to face him.

"B-but I don't!"

"What's been happening recently?"

Tohru bit her lip. "Um, when I moved in with... Y-Yun- chan..." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "Everything was going fine... but then the next morning, Yun-chan wasn't there."

Silence.

"And _no one_ was there! Not until I got a job and met a past acquaintance named Kagura-san! And she didn't remember me!!"

Tohru's voice was louder. Must have been the tea.

"And she was engaged to Yun-chan!!!"

Tohru lifted up the tea and gulped it down quick. Her mind suddenly cleared.

"Yun-chan didn't remember me either!" Tohru shrieked, holding her head in her hands. "And no one but you and Megumi-kun knows who I am!!!"

"It was the house," Saki murmured.

"It was," agreed Megumi.

"Of course it was the house!" Tohru sobbed, not caring if she sounded rude. "Every morning when I wake up, doors slam shut! And at night, I hear voices, and I dream that I'm sitting in front of a mirror, ready to kill someone! I'm terrified of that house! It's haunted!"

Even deeper silence.

The last words hung in the air like shadows. Saki closed her eyes pensively.

"Wh-where am I, Megumi-kun?"

"Saki and I run this place," Megumi replied absentmindedly. "It's a metaphysicality shop."

"Oh," Tohru sighed. "That's wonderful, Megumi-kun."

No one spoke for minutes.

"I'm scared, Hana-chan," Tohru whimpered.

"Me too, Tohru-kun," Saki murmured.

A ray of sunshine fell on Tohru's hand.

"I think I'm going crazy," Tohru whispered.

* * *

EEP! Kinda freeeeky right there, uh-huh. So what's the deal? I have no idea yet. Ha ha ha! I hope you didn't think I had the ending in mind when I started writing it! Hah...


	5. Hoofbeats

A gentle push from behind let Tohru know that Saki was leading her to the house. The dead ferns and decaying wood on the lawn shifted dismally in the wind like they were reluctantly getting up out of bed. It reminded Tohru of the way she had awoken that morning.

The door swung open, lingered a few moments, and closed. THe ghosts were checking to see who was there. "That's them," Tohru confirmed shakily.

"Yes," Hana agreed.

Silence.

No one said another word. Tohru set foot on the bottom step and placed her hand on the rail, glancing back at Hana one time before swinging open the door and stepping in.

Tohru heard something; it was upstairs. Aside from the noises they made by touching things, Tohru had never actually heard any of the ghosts. It drew her interest to see something abnormal.

She listened to the echoes of hoofbeats ricochet off the walls.

Then she raced up the stairs like there was no tomorrow. Her shoe fell off somewhere along the stairs, but she didn't take much notice. All she wanted was to catch up to those hoofbeats, whatever they were; there was a rugged brightness to the sound of them, but their echoes sounded like what was left over from the ringing of funeral church bells.

She saw something bright peripherally. It was the source, she knew; what was making that noise, and still the idea lingered that it was behind all this. It disappeared around a corner, and Tohru took off after it, not noticing when her hair caught and ripped on a stray rail. She wouldn't give up this time.

It was racing, still faster, up another flight of stairs, around her room, around another corner...

And then it stopped, and Tohru stood in awe at the bright shape before her. It was out of western mythology, she knew, but she couldn't put a name on it; it was bright white, with what looked like the body of a horse except for a painful, sharp spike protruding from between its eyes.

"What-"

It disappeared like a flame extinguished, and in the space behind it, the doors to the elevator slid open with a bang. A rush of terror swept over her.

And then she and the elevator just stood and stared at each other for a moment. _Come in_, it said.

Tohru took a step towards the elevator, a cold sweat coating her forehead. She didn't want to go in there. She didn't want to go in there. She did not want...

Suddenly she found herself inside the elevator, and the doors slammed shut. No sooner did she scream than did the elevator lurch, zooming far too high up for the limits of the house's roof. She knew where she was going to end up, and she didn't want to go there. She curled up in a ball and choked out her tears.

Another lurch brought the elevator to a sudden halt. The doors slid open again with a huge snap, and Tohru found herself staring into a room no higher than shoulder elevation, that stretched all the way to who-knows-where with only one tiny window lighting it. She could see the figure of a human at the end.

"Hello..." Tohru whispered, then repeated a little louder. "Hello?"

No response.

She took a few steps out of the elevator and stepped silently towards the person, trying futilely to make out their features through the gloom. She tried again. "He-hello!"

No response. The creaking of the floorboards under her feet became much too apparent as she crouched down to see a girl's body lying down on the floor. Her hair covered her face, and suddenly a horrible prospect entered Tohru's mind.

She took a deep breath, turned the girl over... and screamed.

It was her. It was her when she was in the ninth grade, with blank, dead eyes and blood soaking through her shirt. It was her, with crushed ribs and a hand that dangled limply on no more than skin. It was her, killed.

Tohru turned around and vomited everything that was left in her stomach, only to look up and see the elevator doors close with a thud. She whipped her head around and furiously ran towards the window.

A hand grasping her arm stopped her. Words could not describe the terror.

The dead girl's eyes opened like shutters, and her cracked, dry lips opened to form a breath. She held her fast grip on Tohru's arm, tightening her dead fingers on the hand that was bent to the side.

Tohru couldn't even scream any more. She merely sat against the wall with tears pouring down her face, trying not to look at the girl with her face.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y."

Her voice was scratchy and distorted. Tohru gulped and whimpered slightly. It was far to quiet.

"Y-y-y-yu-uk-k-ki l-l-lo-oves-s-s-s y-y-y-yo-o-o-u-u-u."

The ability to scream returned, and Tohru stood up as if she were electrocuted. The unicorn had reappeared, and Tohru found herself plunging into it, into its otherworldly light. She just wanted everything to be all right...

Tohru awoke in the room she had slept in while at that house. Something was different, something...

She was on the floor. There was nothing in the room, and when she sat up, she saw that her body had made an imprint in the dust coating the floor. She was wearing her best dress, but it was ripped.

The stood up and tried the door out. It was locked.

"I-" she began to yell, but stopped. Who would be there?

She unlatched the hinge with a slide and a click, and the door fell of the frame. She looked down the hallway- was it just her, or did things seem to be in worse shape than they were when she arrived?

Her heels clacked on the marble again as she made her way down the stairs, still unaware of what had happened. The trees at the bottom of the stairs looked exactly as they were when she had last seen them.

And then, as she looked into the kitchen, she saw the figure hunched over the table, hand to head. It looked like...

Then the person looked up, and Tohru wondered what Yuki was doing in the house. She did her best to straighten herself. "S- Sohma-san," she said politely.

He stood up and away from the table, his eyes wide. Tohru let her gaze drift downwards and her heart skipped a beat as she saw the gold band on his finger. He stepped closer to her, and his lips parted.

A salty drop of love made its way down his cheek. "T-Tohru," he said.

Um, some people didn't really understand this story...

"I'm so confused!"

-waaa

...so I thought I'd explain a little something.

Notice how Yuki calls her "Tohru" instead of "Honda-san"? That means he remembers her, which means she's destroyed the curse, which means they live happily ever after. The end. Get it?

Well, that's all for my first fic, so till next time, people. -E


End file.
